Bears come out of hibernation to thump T-Birds

After the Soo Thunderbirds scored a pair of wins on their home ice in recent weeks, the Northern Michigan Black Bears returned the favour on Wednesday night at the John Rhodes Community Centre.

After a brief hibernation against their West Division rivals, the Black Bears handed the Thunderbirds a 7-2 home-ice loss as the Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan based club moved back into first place in the West Division.

Thanks to multi-point nights from five players, the Black Bears moved a point up on the Thunderbirds in the standings.

After the two teams combined for just seven goals through their previous two games, the Thunderbirds and Black Bears combined for four in the first 20 minutes of Wednesday's game.

Ryan Murtaugh opened the scoring for Northern Michigan at 3:38 before the Thunderbirds scored a pair of goals, by Justin Shelleby and Zac McNally, just over six minutes apart to take the lead. Steve Kruszewski then scored a power play goal to tie the game with just over a minute remaining in the period.

In the middle frame, the Black Bears pulled ahead for good thanks to a pair of goals by Derek Stabile, who also had an assist in the game. Stabile scored a power play marker at the five minute mark to put the Black Bears ahead and scored an insurance goal at 12:58.

Chris Cooper scored a pair of goals in the third period while Kruszewski scored his second goal, and third point, of the night to cap off the 7-2 victory by the Black Bears. James Ciotti added two assists in the period while Michael Caprio added two assists in the game for the Black Bears.

Grant McGee had two assists for the Thunderbirds in the loss, while Black Bears goaltender Tony Stoehr stopped 26 shots in the win.

The Black Bears played the game without a pair of players as forwards Jake Watchorn and Anthony Perdicaro, a Greyhounds draft pick, were both out of the lineup due to injuries. Watchorn is out with a broken collarbone while Perdicaro is suffering from a cracked rib, although he expects to be back in the Northern Michigan lineup in a couple of weeks.

Thunderbirds head coach Toots Kovacs was not pleased with his team's effort in the loss commenting that it was not one specific thing that was the problem.

"We got taken to the woodshed in our own rink," said Kovacs. "It's unacceptable. That was probably the worst all-around game that we played all year. There's nothing we can do about it now. We have to get ready for our weekend road trip.

"I can point any fingers at any individual," he added. "It was just a poor effort, but that's okay. I'd rather have that poor effort in February than in March."

Kovacs added that one other part of the game that bothered him was after the game was said and done.

"Northern Michigan sounded like they won the Stanley Cup," Kovacs said. "That will stay in my players minds for a while. That bothered our guys. That bothered me an my players but we won't forget that. Granted, they got two big points and they moved ahead of us in the standings but it wasn't appreciated."

Kovacs added that one of the positives was the play of Mark Hoffman, a callup from the Soo North Stars.

"I appreciated him coming up and playing," Kovacs said. "He did a good job for us. He doesn't look out of place at all. Anybody that we get from the North Stars that comes up fits right in. We're very lucky to have the North Stars to take players from because they're well coached and they play a similar system to us. They're all good kids."

The Thunderbirds now prepare for a tough road trip that will see them play three games in three nights beginning with North Bay on Friday night. Saturday will see the Thunderbirds face Abitibi, before they travel to Sudbury on Sunday.

The Thunderbirds next home game is on Feb. 19 when they host the Abitibi Eskimos. Two nights earlier, the Thunderbirds are in Manitoulin to take on the Wild.

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To view pictures from the Thunderbirds past two home games against Manitoulin, click here. All photos are courtesy of Jim Egan.